Mark 12: 28-34: The Greatest Commandment
Monday, September 12, 2022
Today we conclude our study of Mark’s Gospel with a reflection of the greatest of all commandments. With Mark’s crystalline clarity, we see through all the excess regulations and rules as we also intone: Hear, O Israel!
Jesus cites Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel . . .” They were and are some of the most sacred words that a man or woman of the Jewish faith can utter. It is the basic principle of the Mosaic Law. Some very conservative Jews today take these words so seriously that they actually “bind them at [their] wrist as a sign and let them be a pendant on [the] forehead.” Perhaps we might write them on our own doorposts as Yahweh commands.
If even Jesus himself sees this as the most basic and most important principle of faith, we must spend more time with this idea. What have we a put before God in our lives? With what have we replaced God? And how do we hope to express this greatest of commandments in our lives today.
To learn more about the Shema Prayer, click on the image above or visit: http://www.shemayisrael.net/resources.html
Using the scripture links above, we take time to reflect on why Jesus might choose these verses to explain the greatest of all commandments. Enter the word Shema into the blog search bar for other reflections on Deuteronomy 6.
Adapted from a reflection written on April 27, 2007.
The Noontimes 
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